INTER-PROVINCIAL NEWS.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1093, 29 July 1873, Page 3

INTER-PROVINCIAL NEWS.

itrCKLANB. The Green Harp specimens, which yy\& lately forwarded to Auckland i 7ito Coromandel, have turned out exceedingly rich. Handed over to the ißank of New Zealand, the specimens Were crushed by that establishment, and the result shows a return of one ounce and three-quarters to the pound. The quantity of specimens crushed was 84 ounces,which yielded 120 ounces x>f gold. The Auckland Provincial Gazette gives a statement of four companies, which have at one time, or do now, stand A 1 on the field. They are the Caledonian, Golden Crown, All Nations, and Long Drive Goldmining Companies. Of these companies the total dividends paid are— Caledonian, £584,870 : ; Golden Crown, £155,868; All Nations, £40,095; Long Drive, £79,940. Total, £830,773. The total from four companies gives considerably over three-quarters of a million paid in dividends. A telegram from the Thames says:— *' The Btatettsont in Sir James FergusSon's opening speech relative to native affairs is very much condemned here by all the papers. The Advertiser says it is childish nonsense to talk of leaving the iarresting of Sullivan's murderer to the operations of the law. We must back up the warrants by foree of arms." The settlers at Poverty Bay are agitating for separation from Auckland. The local organ*in support of the movement, says:—" The question is not so much a consideration of what good will follow the proposed change, as it is the obtaining of an unanimous expression of opinion on the form of government most acceptable to the people, and most readily to be obtained at the hands of the legislature ; for it cannot be denied that we are driven to take this course through the cruel desertion of us by the Auckland Government, and any change must be

att improvement. The Provincial Executive, Under the Superintendency of Mr Gillies, have heaped up wrong upon wrong so persistently, with a deaf ear, to our entreaties, that we have conceived a superlative degree of political hatred towards them, which will admit of no atonement." A club for the destruction of hawks exists at Wangarei. The Secret; ry sends to an Auckland paper the following particulars of an extraordinary bfird he recently shot:—Length of wing from tip to tip, 4 feet 7 inches \ weight-, 21bs. A School Teachers Association, 'lately formed in Auckland, is now actively at'work. Over a thousand shares in the {Jew -Zealand Iron Sand Company are said to have bee-n subscribed for, and the company will immediately commence operations.

An address of condolence, signed by a large number of the most influential citizens of Auckland, has been presented to Mr T. Macfartane, trustee in Bankruptcy, in consequence of the late charge of conspiracy made against him in the Police Office, which was dismissed when it came on for hearing. The Southern Cross publishes the following extract from a private letter received in Auckland from Alexandra, Waikato: —" The amount spent during the last few yearß in buying over the natives to keep peace would have gone a long way, if not proved quite sufficient, to complete the,Waikato railway from Mercer to the frontier. By giving them supplies of flour, &c, the Government are only encouraging the rebels in idleness, and hereby prodrtce evil and do them a great wrong." Some of the Auckland lawyers propose memorialising the Government with the view of getting the names of those Justices of the Peace who have ignored their duties, and refused to attend on the Bench, erased from the roll. The Herald says on the subject:— " We have no doubt that the memorial will receive attention; for it must no longer be tolerated, that men, very many of whom have used all the influence, direct and indirect, they possessed, to be made justices, shall, as soon as they have obtained the coveted distinction, neglect the duties attached to the appointment." WELLINGTON. In the House of Representatives Mr Shepherd's motion for supplying copies of Hansard and Parliamentary papers to all mining associations, has been carried. The * Wellington correspondent of the Wairarapa Standard-, in a recent letter says : —" I must conclude with an anecdote which is current of the uew Governor. Colonel Reader, it is said, offered him a guard of honor of ten braVe volunteers—that being the most he could muster in one uniform costume. His Excellency said he would have forty (and ' none of your motley work !') or dispense with a rolunter guard of honor at all. This was asking an impossibility ■; and the volunteers were dismissed accordingly from further attendance." Speaking of the new Governor, a Wellington correspondent states that his private establishment is on a much larger scale than his predecessor's, and the new Government House has rather disappointed him by its meagre accommodation in certain departments. The stables have proved quite insufficient for even his riding horses, while only two out of the five carriages he brought with him could find room in the coachhouse. In like manner, the absence of a billiard room in Government House was soon felt. His Excellency at once represented to the Government the, necessity for additional accommodation' being provided, and at the same time I believe he offered that if the required additions were made, be would while he remained in the Colony, pay the interest on their cost. Whether this offer was accepted or not I do not know, but plans have been prepared, and tenders called for the requisite additions. It having been pretty extensively circulated that the residents of Wanganui wish their district to be formed into a county, the Chronicle denies the truth of the statement, and says they want to be relieved from the Provincial incubus ; that the General Government is quite competent to take over the charge of the separated districts, and administer their affairs with justice and impartiality : that for local self government as regards districts they have an admirable road board system, and a Borough Council to look after the interests of,the town. "Separation,,' says the paper " does not mean 'no bridges ' nor a coßtly Couuty system ; it simply means the emancipation of the richest and most healthy part of ' the province from the ties that bind it down to the pahried and poverty stricken remnant.

The Independent says;— One item of the estimates for the next financial year will be closely criticised—that for volunteers. For some time past the efficiency and utility of the force has greatly decreased, and it will take considerable persuasion to induce the House to vote anythiug near the large Bum habitually granted. CAN'tERBtJRY. In noticing the successful floating of the New Zealand Shipping Company, at Christchurch) the New Zealand Herald declares that " Lyttelton will become the great importing depot of New Zealand, as Wellington has become the centre of steamship undertakings." The Trustees of the Museum have

at last decided not to open the Museum on Sundays. A section of the Christchurch people are indignant. The credit balance itt favor of the province on the 30th of June was £401,581. The receipts of Canterbury railways for the past quarter were £23,293. The receipts for the year for pasturage licenses was £55,025. Mr H. Wrigg, sen., C.E., of Auckland, has been engaged by the Pro. vincial Government of Canterbury to devise a scheme for irrigating a portion of the Canterbury plains, and for other hydraulic works. The Lyttelton Times of Saturday last reports as follows:—Grain and produce.—ln these market? we have, for the past Week, to report neither transactions nor change in Value, which continue as they were on Fridav last, vifc. .—Wheat, 4s 6d (a full quotation); flour, £ll 10s ; sharps, £5 10s • bran, £4 10s ; oats, 4s 3d to 4s 4d; in Christchurch, say, 5s f. o. b.; barley, 6s 9d ; potatoes, £2. With respect to the hairless horse, now being exhibited in Christchurch, the Press says :—*'The horse stands about fifteen hands, and is a glossy black, perfectly sound, and a really good cut of an animal. He has not the vestige of a single hair on his body, neither about his tail, eyebrows, eyelashes or nose, and even to the interior of the ear he is hairless. The horse will well bear inspection, simply as a natural curiosity. His name is particularly happy, for in passing the hand over the skin, it gives one the exact idea of a india-rubber. He is perfectly quiet, and in robust health. After having exhibited throughout Australia, where he has obtained the most flattering notices, it is the intention of the proprietor, Mr Oat, to proceed via Honolulu, to America, and from thence to England-. OTIGO. A prisoner named Duffy, who was sentenced to twenty-five lashes in Dunedin gaol, received them last Week. He suffered intensely. The Wakatip Mail declares that " in Queenstown a watch-house exists, incarceration in which for one night almost kills the strongest of men." The average earnings of alluvial miners throughout the Bannoekburn district, the Cromwell Argus states, are perhaps not over thirty shillings a week—certainly not two pounds. The recent telegram stating that Mr Bradshaw had been drowned in the Taieri rivet* did not refer as some surmised to Mr J". B. Bradshaw, of political note. The following are further particulars at hand regarding the accident:—on the night of the sth instant., as two men uamed John Handy and Andrew Bradshaw were crossing the Taieri river in a small boat, the boat was swamped when near Mr James Allen's farm-. Handy succeeded in reaching the bank, but Bradshaw was drowned Three boats were procured by Constable Strean, and the river well dragged, but the body was not recovered.

Mr Vincent Pyke publishes a hook shortly, under the title "Wild .Will Enderby," It is a story of colonial life in Victoria and New Zealand.

The trout in Lake "Wakatip are, the Mail says, very tame, and they have now taken to the Queenstown Jetty, as a place under Which to disport themselves, no doubt attracted by the feed that is always falling into the waters thereat. They have increased rapidly in size, and are about 18 inches long, The experiment is therefore a success. The Wakatip Mail says : ■ " Mr W. H. the advocate of the Greenstone route to Martin's Bay, is, we believe, in communication with the Government as to the opening up of a road from the Greenstone Valley to Milford Sound. We gather that Mr Homer has discovered a practical pass. If so, an immense public gain will be achieved —so great that we hardly dare sketch out in what it consists, lest disappointment should ensue upon failure. Mr Homer describes the country as magnificent. This is the region colored white on the map —the terra incognita of Dr Hector, who has two or three times attempted to peoetrate it from the sea-board, but without success. The Toltnie Government has passed through the crisis of a no-confidence motion successfully; wining a majority of six, but a new Executive will be formed. The nataes proposed are: — Mr Turnbull, Provincial Secretary and Treasurer ) Dr Webster, Secretary for Lands ; Mr Bastings, Secretary for Works and Goldfields; Mr Turlon, Provincial Solicitor; and Mr Sb.and, Without office. The Episcopal body in Dunedin have determined to build another church for the benefit of the southern part of town. A site has been secured at the corner of Hope and Stafford streets. The nominations for the Duuedin Cup, a sweepstake of 10 sovs, with 300 sovs. added, closes on the first November. The recent polemic strife in Dunedin furnishes the Morning Star with the following rather profane advertisement :—" Wanted immediately, for Dunedin Presbytery, an estimate of the difference between the Divinity of Christ and Moses." Our telegrams have already announced that the capital for the new daily paper to be Btarted in Dunedin has been increased to £45,000* It is now Btated on good authority that the greater portion of the money has been deposited ready for use. The title of the paper is to be The Guardian. The

preparations in connection with this journalistic venture are said to be of the most elaborate and costly character. The Superintendent's salary has been raised lo £IOOO. The other departments have also been increased. Flour is firm at £l2 10s; wheat scarce at 5s Bd to 5s 6d ; oats are fi-mer at 4s 4d ; bran, ,£3 10s j barley in no demand-; oatmeal, £25.